Glutamine

Glutamine is an amino acid, one of the building blocks from which protein is made. Glutamine is found in plant and animal sources, as well as in supplement form. It helps the body maintain a healthy pH balance and is necessary for making and repairing cells. As the most plentiful free amino acid in muscle tissue, glutamine plays an important role in all parts of the body. It speeds recovery and healing, helps curb cravings, and can improve mental acuity.

Uses

Glutamine helps relieve the following health problems.

• Food cravings
• Alcoholism
• Problems with brain activity and mental functions
• Digestive tract problems, including ulcers, Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and leaky gut syndrome
• Wounds, including those caused by surgery and leg ulcers (helps wounds heal faster)
• Autoimmune diseases
• Connective tissue diseases
• Arthritis
• Fibrosis
• The muscle wasting caused by conditions such as AIDS and cancer
• Damage caused by radiation therapy
• Developmental disabilities
• Schizophrenia
• Epilepsy
• Fatigue
• Impotence
• Stress

Dietary Sources

Foods that contain a significant amount of glutamine include plant and animal protein foods, such as meats, milk, soy proteins, raw spinach, raw parsley, and cabbage. Cooking can destroy glutamine, especially in vegetables.

Other Forms

Glutamine is available in some multivitamin complexes, protein supplements, and individual supplements. You can purchase it at most pharmacies and health food stores in the form of powders, capsules, tablets, or liquid.

Standard preparations are available in 500 mg tablets or capsules.

How to Take It

It is best to take glutamine for conditions such as peptic ulcers, arthritis, Crohn's disease, and impotence. You should consult your health care provider for many of the medical conditions that glutamine can help. Your health care provider can help you determine how much glutamine you should take and what other nutrients you should take with glutamine to help it work better.

Although your body normally has enough glutamine, it gets used up by extreme stress caused by surgery, disease, or a long illness, or even by vigorous exercise. When the body's own stores of glutamine run short, supplements or dietary sources of glutamine can help restore the balance and help you recover faster.

There is no recommended dietary requirement (RDA) yet for glutamine, so check with your health care provider to find out how much you need. He or she will probably recommend that you take between 500 to 1,500 mg a day, depending on what condition you have, what other medications you're taking, and other factors specific to you.

As with all medicines and supplements, check with your health care provider before giving glutamine supplements to a child.

Precautions

People who have Reye's syndrome, kidney disease, cirrhosis of the liver, or other illnesses that cause ammonia to build up in the blood should not take glutamine.

Possible Interactions

No harmful drug interactions have been reported.

Supporting Research

Balch J, Balch P. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. 2nd ed. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group; 1997.

Castell LM, Newsholme EA. The effects of oral glutamine supplementation on athletes after prolonged, exhaustive exercise. Nutrition. 1997;13:738–742.

Den Hond E. Hiele M, Peeters M, Ghoos Y, Rutgeerts P. Effect of long-term oral glutamine supplements on small intestinal permeability in patients with Crohn's disease. J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 1999;23:7–11.

Giller R, Matthews K. Natural Prescriptions. New York, NY: Carol Southern Books/Crown Publishers; 1994.

Gottlieb B. New Choices in Natural Healing. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, Inc.; 1995.

Haas R. Eat Smart, Think Smart. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 1994.

Kirschmann G, Kirschmann J. Nutrition Almanac. 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill; 1996.

LaValle J. Natural agents for a healthy GI tract. Drug Store News. January 12, 1998;20.

Li J, Langkamp-Henken B, Suzuki K, Stahlgren LH. Glutamine prevents paranteral nutrition-induced increases intestinal permeability. J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 1994;18:303–307.

Napoli M. Chemo effect alleviated. Health Facts. October 1998;23:6.

Noyer CM, Simon D, Borczuk A, Brandt LJ, Lee MJ, Nehra V. A double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study of glutamine therapy for abnormal intestintal permeability in patients with AIDS. Am J Gastroenterol. 1998;93:972–975.

Shabert JK, Wilmore DW. Glutamine deficiency as a cause of human immunodeficiency virus wasting. Med Hypotheses. March 1996; 46:252–256.

Yoshida S, Matsui M, Shirouzu Y, Fujita H, Yamana H, Shirouzu K. Effects of glutamine supplements and radiochemotherapy on systemic immune and gut barrier function in patients with advanced esophageal cancer. Ann Surg. 1998;227:485–491.

Copyright © 2000 Integrative Medicine Communications

The publisher does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or the consequences arising from the application, use, or misuse of any of the information contained herein, including any injury and/or damage to any person or property as a matter of product liability, negligence, or otherwise. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made in regard to the contents of this material. No claims or endorsements are made for any drugs or compounds currently marketed or in investigative use. This material is not intended as a guide to self-medication. The reader is advised to discuss the information provided here with a doctor, pharmacist, nurse, or other authorized healthcare practitioner and to check product information (including package inserts) regarding dosage, precautions, warnings, interactions, and contraindications before administering any drug, herb, or supplement discussed herein.